Circulate NJ was born out of a data problem.
In 2024, when the coalition’s founders looked at the 10 most-read articles about industrial development, they learned that nine of them were negative — painting an industry that employs hundreds of thousands of people across the state as little more than a source of truck traffic and warehouse sprawl. The group set out to balance that narrative, member by member, story by story.
Circulate NJ has had some success.
Chair David Greek says that when the coalition ran the same measurement last year, the split had moved to six negative articles out of the top 10, with four neutral or positive. Circulate NJ can’t take all the credit — fewer development applications moving through towns statewide has meant fewer local fights to generate bad headlines in the first place — but Greek said it’s real progress on the one number the group can actually track.
The catch is that Circulate NJ, like most advocacy coalitions, runs on member dues, and dues have mostly funded a defensive posture: responding to bad legislation and misinformation as it surfaces, rather than getting ahead of it. Greek wants more.
Heading into its second full year, Greek said Circulate NJ is looking to expand its focus beyond playing defense. Here’s what that looks like:
1. Keep fighting in Trenton
With fewer local approval battles to wage, the coalition has turned more of its attention to the state capital, pushing back on what Greek calls “bad legislative ideas” around trucking regulations and worker classification. It’s a shift in emphasis more than a change in mission — Circulate NJ was built to respond when the industry comes under attack, and lately more of those attacks are originating in the Statehouse than in local zoning boards.
2. Build a bank of human stories
Circulate NJ is working with individuals across the industry to compile short bios and anecdotes about career paths in logistics — stories meant to show what the industry actually offers workers, rather than just rebutting criticism as it comes. The goal, Greek said, is to illustrate how a logistics career differs from other job opportunities today, giving the coalition its own material to point to instead of only playing defense against someone else’s narrative.
3. Grow the war chest
The coalition is throwing its first-ever fundraising event this October — details still to come in the months ahead — and continuing to recruit new members in an industry Greek says is more scattered than most people realize. He said he’s still introducing Circulate NJ to new people every day and explaining what the coalition does. The fundraiser itself is meant to do double duty: raise money, but also put the organization in front of people who may not know it exists. Both efforts point at the same goal: more money and more voices behind the coalition.
4. Go on offense … once the money’s there
The proactive playbook Greek actually wants — running its own advertisements or public awareness campaigns to spotlight the industry’s benefits before critics frame the narrative first — is still out of reach on the coalition’s current budget. He said there are plenty of positive stories happening inside the industry that the public simply never hears, precisely because Circulate NJ doesn’t yet have the resources to tell them proactively rather than in response to an attack.
The aim is simple, Greek said.
“As our membership grows and we get more expertise and more financial firepower, hopefully we can afford to do more and be more proactive,” he said.
For information about CirculateNJ, go to circulatenj.com.
